The protection of critical program information (CPI) from unwanted transfer is necessary to ensure a technical and tactical advantage over adversaries or competitors. Anti-Tamper (AT) technology consists of engineering activities that prevent or delay exploitation of critical technologies in U.S. weapons systems, military systems, commercial electronics or commercial systems. The purpose of AT is to add longevity to critical technology by deterring efforts to reverse-engineer, exploit, or develop countermeasures against a system or component. System longevity (twenty plus years) is one of the challenges facing integration of effective AT systems into long life systems.
Various powered sensor based response techniques have been developed for AT systems. See U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2008/0180245; 2008/0073491; and 2011/0267190 incorporated herein by this reference. These systems require a means to constantly power the AT sensors/system for long periods of time. Current energy storage technologies such as batteries and capacitors are insufficient for long life AT systems due to their limited capacity or large required volumes to meet the needed power budget. One way to limit battery usage would be to either use fewer sensors or sense at low frequencies, thus enabling a reasonably sized battery to power a system for a long time. However, this leads to less reliable AT systems which will be more susceptible to attack.